US Politics
Who’s who in the secret group advising Trump on Iran
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President Donald Trump let it be known on Thursday that he will make a decision on whether to involve the U.S. in Israel’s war with Iran within the next two weeks, as tensions over the question continue to divide conservatives.
The president, who signed off on attack plans on Tuesday but resisted giving the go-ahead, is reportedly taking soundings from a small coterie of trusted advisers while also throwing the conversation open to fellow world leaders, as well as allies such as the hawkish Republican senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Tom Cotton of Arkansas.
Outside of his inner circle, MAGA personalities Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Steve Bannon, and Candace Owens have been speaking out against the prospect of the U.S. wading into another prolonged Middle Eastern war. At the same time, other Trump cheerleaders on Capitol Hill and the media have made the case for intervention.
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Here’s a look at the people Trump is listening to, according to NBC News.
JD Vance
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Vice President Vance has previously struck a non-interventionist posture on foreign wars, notably opposing American support for Ukraine.
He appears to favor a diplomatic solution to the dispute with Iran, applauding Trump for showing “remarkable restraint” and making the safety of American troops and assets his top priority.
Susie Wiles
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The president’s White House Chief of Staff and former campaign manager is known as the “Ice Maiden” and regarded as an important restraining presence, in place to shield Trump from his own worst instincts.
Stephen Miller
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A senior adviser and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, Miller is known as an anti-immigration hardliner and one of the faces of Trump’s mass deportation push.
A regular talking head on conservative media loathed by liberals, Miller has reportedly been nicknamed “Weird Stephen” behind the scenes by the president, which does not suggest he commands the level of respect to which he aspires.
Marco Rubio
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Once a bitter enemy of Trump and rival for the Republican nomination, the Secretary of State now has such a full plate he has been dubbed the “Secretary of Everything.”
Rubio was out quickly last week to deny American involvement in Israel’s initial onslaught but has since largely left the public messaging to the president.
Steve Witkoff
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Trump’s Middle East envoy, like him, a former luxury real estate developer, has led talks with both Israel and Iran since taking office earlier this year and, like Rubio, has cut a busy figure, also serving as the president’s de facto liaison with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Dan Caine
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The lieutenant general serving as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff boasts the tough-guy nickname “Razin’ Caine” and previously served as a counterterrorism specialist to George W. Bush’s Homeland Security Council.
He reportedly first befriended Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2019 and impressed him by suggesting that Isis could be stamped out within a week. “One week? I was told two years!” Trump marvelled.
Erik Kurilla
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The head of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) is a career army officer who also has a cool nickname, “The Gorilla.”
He has reportedly been granted an unprecedented amount of leeway by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. He has seen an increasing allocation of resources to his areas of responsibility, which include the Middle East.
John Ratcliffe
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The CIA Director is an influential voice, having also served in the first Trump administration. He was previously a Texas congressman and a mayor of a small town.
Two names conspicuous by their absence from that list are Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
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Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell has pushed back against the suggestion that Hegseth has been sidelined.
“This claim is completely false,” he told NBC. “The secretary is speaking with the president multiple times a day, and has been with the president in the Situation Room this week.
“Secretary Hegseth is providing the leadership the Department of Defense and our Armed Forces need, and he will continue to work diligently in support of President Trump’s peace through strength agenda.”
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Trump is meanwhile reported to have fallen out with Gabbard for going “off-message” after she posted a video on X attacking the “political elite and warmongers” for “carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers” and placing the world “on the brink of nuclear annihilation.”
Asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins aboard Air Force One about Gabbard’s statement to Congress in March that, although Iran’s enriched uranium levels are at an all-time high, the expert opinion is that Tehran is not currently seeking to develop a nuclear bomb.
“I don’t care what she said,” the president snapped. “I think they were very close to having a weapon.”
One Trump supporter to deny any involvement in Trump’s discussions about the conflict is MAGA die-hard Laura Loomer, who attacked former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson on X on Thursday night for reporting that she was playing an advisory role, dismissing the claim as “fake news.”